Games that really push the System

[TWRMotorSport]

What games do you guys think really push the system,
Graphics, music, control wise. Whatever, just whatever took the system to its limits in your opinion!

Now, There Are No Limits.

[bonaf]

The first that comes to my mind is Power Strike II, I've seen less technically impressive shoot'em ups on the Megadrive...

[Maxim]

Road Rash and Lemmings both do things the system isn't designed to do.

[soera]

Im going to have to go with the obvious - Phantasy star. When you compare that game to other 8 bit RPGs, it makes this game seem like it was on a different system.

[jessie]

Music: Space Harrier
Visuals: Phantasy Star

[Centrale]

I also think Space Harrier is notable for a few reasons. It is the first game that introduced the concept of using background tiles as foreground objects, enemies and characters, as a way of getting around the limitations of sprites. Later on this technique was used by several other games. Also, it takes place within a 3D space and the perspective of the enemies and obstacles shifts accurately depending on the player's movements and position on screen. Subsequently Space Harrier 3-D added in some vertical scrolling and utilizes the system's 3D glasses, so that pushes the system's capabilities even further.

Also, it wouldn't be a Centrale post if I wasn't bringing up Kenseiden again. The soundtrack is amazing, with many more tunes than most other 8-bit games of the time. And it has some cool ambient sonic effects, like hearing a waterfall off in the distance quietly at first and then getting progressively louder as you near it.

Other games that push the systems limits in a sense would be games that utilize more than one controller for a single player, like F-16 Fighting Falcon/F-16 Fighter. Also, there's a lesser-known twin stick mode for Global Defense.

[Batman666]

Did somebody say Kenseiden?

[wayeK]

Jun 8, 2014 18:03:32 GMT Batman666 said:

Did somebody say Kenseiden?

[Transatlantic Foe]

Most of the late-era 16 bit ports are very impressive, though they usually come with compromises (fewer/smaller levels, no music).

Power Strike II is a great example of a late-era exclusive - it does indeed put many 16 bit shmups in the shade. But even then, there is some fairly nasty flicker in places. I'd have to give a shoutout to the original Power Strike, which shifts around so many sprites and never really breaks into a sweat. It looks and (a rarity for the system) sounds fantastic.

For something a bit different - GP Rider. It's a single player two player mode - most racing games from the era don't have persistent opponents, only generic or superhuman ones. The rest of the game is fairly unimpressive, but having an actual AI opponent really stands out for me.

[lambrettadave]

Populous was a impressive game with loads more levels than other versions.

I think Robocop vs terminator was a really good platformer for the system too.

Er maxim says road rash and he is right it really ace in the scrolling department.

NBA jam another great game too well smooth.

[flatapex]

micro machines, populous, lemmings, power strike 2, dracula all fit that criteria for me

with the exception of micro machines they were all part of my first ms game purchases, totally by accident a year ago, playing these games showed that the ms was capable of much more than i had been lead to believe 20+ years ago

[grolt]

Jun 8, 2014 13:04:55 GMT Maxim said:

Road Rash and Lemmings both do things the system isn't designed to do.

What exactly did those two games do that others couldn't? I'm interested to know.

I was always impressed with the 3 different updating displays all on-screen at once in Cyborg Hunter.

[Maxim]

Lemmings lets you make pixel perfect changes to the scenery, which is not the way the system is designed to work, the 8x8 squares are supposed to be predefined. On top of that it has 20 sprites (plus the cursor) moving around smoothly, without flickering, when the system can only do 8.

Road Rash extends the simple Hang On road style and adds hills, jumps, junctions, smooth horizon shifts and a lot of variation in road shapes which would usually require functionality that the Mega Drive has and the Master System doesn't - multiple layers and vertical scroll effects, for example - by using clever tricks instead.

[Retrobob]

I hear clever tricks used a lot when people describe how programmers got the most out of systems, but don't really know what this actually is - could you give a laymans description?

The one I know of is how they made 2 ghosts in to 4 in pac man by making the sprites flicker in sequence so the screen only showed 2 at any one time.

[Centrale]

Jun 29, 2014 21:29:18 GMT Maxim said:

Lemmings lets you make pixel perfect changes to the scenery, which is not the way the system is designed to work, the 8x8 squares are supposed to be predefined. On top of that it has 20 sprites (plus the cursor) moving around smoothly, without flickering, when the system can only do 8.

Road Rash extends the simple Hang On road style and adds hills, jumps, junctions, smooth horizon shifts and a lot of variation in road shapes which would usually require functionality that the Mega Drive has and the Master System doesn't - multiple layers and vertical scroll effects, for example - by using clever tricks instead.

Both of those were developed by Probe, I believe. I've been impressed with the games by them I've seen. Another one by them is Alien 3, which uses a clever technique to create the illusion of parallax backgrounds.